Ruminations on art, life, politics, world events and anything else that comes to mind. May also contain traces of the following: animation, comics, industrial design, weird foreign films, punk/postpunk/industrial and experimental music, popular culture and economic/social critique. Made in a factory that also processes nuts.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Obama's Plan for the Arts

Ok, last political post for a while, I promise. One of the things that's appealed to me throughout Obama's campaign has been his very thoughtful position on the arts. Unlike almost everyone in our federal government, Obama seems to recognize that artists and arts professionals contribute to our society and further our supposed core values of understanding and tolerance.

Aside from the predictable, though admirable, emphasis on arts education for children, Obama's platform recognizes artists as adults and professionals in need of investment. Here are some highlights of Obama's plans to support artists:

"Promote Cultural Diplomacy: American artists, performers and thinkers – representing our values and ideals – can inspire people both at home and all over the world. Through efforts like that of the United States Information Agency, America’s cultural leaders were deployed around the world during the Cold War as artistic ambassadors and helped win the war of ideas by demonstrating to the world the promise of America. Artists can be utilized again to help us win the war of ideas against Islamic extremism. Unfortunately, our resources for cultural diplomacy are at their lowest level in a decade. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will work to reverse this trend and improve and expand public-private partnerships to expand cultural and arts exchanges throughout the world."

Include artists in the "war of ideas" rather than wage a culture war against us? It's so crazy it just might work.

"Ensure Tax Fairness for Artists: Barack Obama supports the Artist-Museum Partnership Act, introduced by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT). The Act amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow artists to deduct the fair market value of their work, rather than just the costs of the materials, when they make charitable contributions."

The Artist-Museum Partnership Act is long-overdue legislation. If passed, it would bring artists back into the power structure of public collections, which are presently hamstrung by a complicated relationship with private collectors. The situation is complex, but suffice it to say that this law would give museum curators a reason to talk to artists again, and for living artists to play a role in shaping institutions. With a Democratic president and a Democratic Congress, it just might happen.

1 comment:

Not long ago i found your website and maintain lately viewing with each other. Seemed Detailed post had been extremely thought. Me may not experience what things believe other than Could very well appreciated researching. A real awesome story so now!

Links

About Me

I am a curator and writer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. I've curated exhibitions for Craft and Folk Art Museum in LA, Mills College Art Museum in Oakland, DeYoung Museum Artist Studio in San Francisco, and numerous Bay Area non-profits and galleries. I am a Lecturer in Art Practice at San Jose State University and UC Berkeley, and in Art History at College of Marin. I'm #Hashtags editor for DAILY SERVING, and my writing has appeared in Artillery, Art Practical, Afterimage, LEONARDO, and OPEN SPACE: The SFMOMA Blog, as well as in books and catalogues on contemporary American artists including Sonya Rapoport and Chitra Ganesh. From 2009-2013, I was Curator at the Worth Ryder Art Gallery in the UC Berkeley Department of Art Practice. I earned an MA in Curatorial Practice from California College of the Arts, and a BS in Studio Art from New York University.